Well, since you asked, to be honest, I'm a little more than just annoyed at the news. I mean, if Ray Lewis allegedly kills one person and gets a statute, wouldn't that correlate to someone allegedly killing five people getting five statutes? If so, wouldn't I at least be under consideration for at six, er, I mean, five alleged statues? I'm not even picky. Small 10 foot ones would be fine. And they can all be in one central location on the SMU campus. Or, better yet, at the corner of 5th and Jones Streets. Allegedly.

I'm against statues of sports figures even if they weren't involved in a double murder. Haven't we kissed Ray Lewis' butt enough already? How about if the team takes the money they are going to spend on this stupidity and gives it to the families of the two dead guys instead.

I understand that the Ravens may consider him part of the family and will support him no matter what. What I don't understand is celebrating him publicly. This reminds me of a cliche cop drama that has a detective too close to a case to make rational decisions.

He deserves a statue as much as Joe Paterno did. If guys like Omameh and Mesko are what is right with sports, this is what is wrong. At least it will be a constant target for vandalism. That's the only reason PSU took down JoePa.

I have had a hard time following the NFL since the Browns left and came back the worst team in the NFL since 1999. Morality has been seperate from sports for a good 20 years.

There where always jerk offs who where sports heros( Ty Cobb) but there where more guys who loved being looked up to by kids. Now a days it's the opposite there are more jerk offs just wanting a pay check than there are guys whoactually want to be looked at as a role model.

Hey guys here is a thought, how about everyone stops pretending like they no more about the case than prosecution who didn't try him for murder or the jury who didn't find anyone guilty of the crime because there was not enough evidence. Apparently being arrested is now equivalent to a conviction for a group of people who never looked over the facts of the case.

If lewis had been convicted of murder and still had a statue built that would be an issue. As it is he was never convicted so now everyone is just making assumptions based off a case they don't really know anything about. Bravo to all just justice above all internet posters who conviently look past fun facts like our criminal justice system never charged him with murder. And before anyone compares this to OJ, he actually went to trial because the prosecution actually thought he did it.

Why? Because I pointed out that nobody cracking jokes in this thread has any idea what happened that night and based off a few news reports has decided a man is guilty of murder. Or the fact that they refuse to acknoledge that despite never being even charged with murder he has never had anything off the field that suggests poor behavior since that night and has had a huge impact on the Baltimore charity scene and has made a positive difference in a lot of people's lives. You guys like talking about what is right about sports? How about listening to Lewis's speach after the loss to the patriots last year where he talks about how there are bigger things than sports in reference to a local high school student he had befriended who had passed away a week before the game.

I don't have a problem with people not liking him for his antics, or his constant screaming about religion, that all makes sense. Saying possibly the greatest linebacker of all time shouldn't have a statue because you decided he is guilty of a crime he was never even charged with is just bitter.

responsiblities. Taylor was a the first hybrid DE/LB while Lewis was your prototypical MLB. They were asked to do different things on the football field. I don't think it is fair to compare the two in light of differing positional responsibilities.

He wasn't convicted because the prosecution couldn't find a witness that could testify they saw Lewis stabbing the victim. But there were plenty of witnesses who verified that Lewis was present. Plus, they had him on obstruction of justice, aiding and abetting, and probably accessory to murder.

Don't you think that if they had solid evidence against the guy that he would have received more than 8 months? I mean, the man is black and we all know how the justice treats black men. The idea that a black man can get off--saving for gross incompetence--is clearly ludicrous if one considers the experience of black men in the US judicial system.

No. Not really. Celebrities get sweetheart deals all the time. The prosecution knew Lewis didn't do it, but they also knew he knew who did it. They gave Lewis the deal and he became their star witness.

So now being at a scene is equivalent to being guilty? The only thing he was ever charged with was obstruction of justice. Not to mention you say he wasn't convicted, well he wasn't even charged with the murder. Can I say unequivocally that Lewis had no part in the murders? Of course not. But you can't say he certainly did it and just got lucky nobody came forward as a witness, he was a high profile athlete, of course he would be recognized. Our justice system is designed to try to avoid putting innocent people in prison. There was not enough evidence to try or convict ray lewis on murder and so he was not. I just do not understand why exactly everyone has decided they know better than people who were actually a part of the case?

I'm trying to play devils advocate in this, my post says I don't know what happened, I just think its absurd that people have so little doubt in their mind despite knowing a tiny percentage of the facts. That is all. Have any of the people in this thread seen Lewis's deposition? Read over the police report? Done any legitimate research on the issue? Because if they haven't I think its absurd they are trying to degrade this man with so few facts.

I'm familiar with Tyrelle Pryor quote and all the snickers it generated amongst th hoi polloi. But it's actually one of the more perceptive things he's ever said considering that he views himself as being above the average person and that like most elites believes that he can (and probably could) get away with murder just because of who he is.

Could anything else be done to undeservedly feed this man's ego? I suppose the crowd for the dedication could be told to gather on the opposite side of the stadium from the actual statue, and the explanation could be, "Sorry, we gave a misleading statement".

I really do. And, the best summary of the death of the two young men I heard came from Rick Reilly (slightly shocking, I know)

He said something along the lines of how the police never went after another person in the death of those two people. Therefore, as far as the legal system is concerned, they both died of spontaneous stab wounds.

Can we get a statue where he is in the pose of "See No Evil" with his hands over his eyes? That's my suggestion.

Do you have any empirical evidence for that? I'm aware of some evidence suggesting that outside of the Middle East, our court system is falling behind most other countries. With 1/3 of AA males behind bars at some point, and the correlation between private ownership of prisons (and subsequent increase in lobbying by those private companies) and the rise in inmate population, along with the growing evidence of incarceration of innocent defendants, one could argue that our system of justice is a complete failure. There are many other countries where I'd rather be a defendant or the victim of a crime. In my own building (in a solidly middle-class and trendy neighborhood), the police will not bother to come to arrest a known drug-dealer because they are too busy chasing down murderers, and there were still over 500 shooting deaths just last year here.

Lewis is what he is; a great football player who is a hypocrite of sorts off the field. He's like most people, then, and that's fine. But I thought it was weird when Jordan received a statue, and Coamerica still looks a little weird with the characters in the outfield. I mean, Ty Cobb was a great baseball player but also a virulent racist and apparently was fine beating up disabled people in the stands. I guess in general, I'm fine with a guy getting his plaque in a HoF, but turning the memory of him intoa faux deity seems a bit much.